Dive Review of Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Raja in
Indonesia/Raja Land Based Waisai Island

Other Indonesia reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Raja: "Raja Great Land Based Dive Operation", Jan, 2023, by Douglas , IL, US ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 12658 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	In response to a last minute request, Melissa Moss at Reef & Rainforest did a great job finding and booking for us 7 Days at Meridan Adventure Dive Resort, Waisai, Raja in January 2023. Super friendly staff at a simple, clean, new hotel with a nice pool (see pic) and excellent dive operation. The menu at the restaurant is very limited, so meals can get repetitive, but the food was great (see pic), and there are some other small restaurants in the local village within walking distance. The rooms are reminiscent of small college no-frills dorm rooms, but clean and with a great bathroom and shower. (The hotel is actually built out of shipping containers.) Drinks are available but very pricey. The unusual high speed custom boat (see pic) has you sit on the rubberized gunwhales facing inboard toward a scuba tank wall, so it can get twisty on your back if you like looking out during the rides (instead of at the scuba wall). But the crew keeps the boat logistics efficient, and they drive fast and spend the fuel to get you to excellent dive sites, including all the way out to Melissa’s Garden, with its stunningly giant fields of staghorn coral. All of the dive guides were wonderful, safety conscious, and let you dive your own profile, as long as you weren’t idiotic. Unfortunately, Nitrox wasn’t yet available during our visit, but that didn’t limit our profiles. We still got in 3 dives a day, and even added a 4th dive at night on 1/27. The boat’s ladders are weird- a single pole downpipe with footpegs left and right- and the pole swings side to side when you try to climb up, like a free-wheeling minute hand on a clock! I fell off the first time I tried, and then a dive guide held it in place for me and others after that. I asked “Why not just put a locking pin in it when it’s down in the water?” A guide quietly concurred with me and gave the frustrated reply- “This is the way the owner wants it for some reason.” Dive sites were Melissa’s Garden, Keru Channel, Glazy, Mioskin, New Reef, Lau Lau, Soanek Monde (night), Citrus Ridge, Yenbuba Jetty, Yenkoranu Jetty, Sawandarek Jetty, Lumbah Lumbah at Kri, Batu Lima, Manta Sandy, Arborek Jetty, Andrea’s and Blue Magic. Meridian Dive did a great job of getting us to tons of different sites, and I won’t bore you with all of my notes on the awesome diving- suffice it to say this was Raja! After one dive, they took the time to take us to land based Playa Nemo, for a beautiful overlook of rock islands (see pic). Terima Kasi Raja Meridian! P.S.- I highly recommend the Aston Sorong- modern and clean, with a wonderful pool and amazing buffet (see pic). On the way to Sorong, we stayed one night at the Jakarta 4 Seasons which was surprisingly affordable for such a high end venue with its stunningly beautiful 20th floor outdoor pool (see pic). None]
Websites	Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Ra...
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Raja, Solomons, Truk, Yap, Palau, Coral Sea, GBR, PNG, Roatan, Maui, Jamaica, Florida Jupiter and Keys, L'il Cayman and Grand Cayman East, Belize Ambergris and Isla Marisol, Grand Turk, Cabo Pulmo, Cozumel, Dominica, Bonaire, Fiji, Komodo and Lembeh, Bonne Terre mine, Saba and Statia
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There	Jakarta to Sorong
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive your own profile but be safe.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1530 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Indonesia Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Indonesia
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Indonesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.42 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Raja in Indonesia/Raja Land Based Waisai Island

Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Raja: "Raja Great Land Based Dive Operation", Jan, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Meridian Adventure Dive Resort Waisai Raja Raja in
Indonesia/Raja Land Based Waisai Island